SoulCalibur 6 release date only one week away

Bandai Namco’s newest Soulcalibur game, SoulCalibur 6, is only a week from release.

The upcoming fighting game has been well publicised for its inclusion of the character Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher game and book series (which is soon to be a Netflix show too). The SoulCalibur 6 release date was announced in a trailer in August.

The trailer, released as part of Gamescom 2018, outlined the second story mode in SoulCalibur 6 and gave us a glimpse into this entry’s character creation mode. However, it’s the 19 October 2018 release date that has us truly excited as it’s not long until we can sit back and enjoy the latest entry into the series after its six-year hiatus.

You can see the release date reveal trailer below.

Alongside the announcement of a SoulCalibur 6 release date, Bandai Namco also revealed that Tira would be making her way back to the series too. However, she’ll only be playable to those who purchase the Season Pass. If you don’t fancy snapping up a season pass, Bandai Namco are also opening her up as a downloadable character for those who would rather pick and choose who joins their final roster.

Read on to find out everything we know about SoulCalibur 6

SoulCalibur 6: Everything you need to know

SoulCalibur 6 release date: When is the new SoulCalibur coming out?

SoulCalibur 6 is designed to be the celebration of the series’ 20th anniversary. Initially released on 30 July 1998 on the Dreamcast, it’s clear that Bandai Namco isn’t looking to hit the same release window as the classic. However, thanks to a new trailer at Gamescom, we now know the tale of souls and swords will be revisited on 19 October 2018.

SoulCalibur 6 story: Is there a Weapon Master Mode in SoulCalibur 6?

Bandai Namco has revealed that SoulCalibur 6 will have two story modes available to players: Chronicle of Souls and Libra of Soul.

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Chronicle of Souls

Designed as the main story mode of SoulCalibur 6, Chronicle of Souls is a story mode fitting of the game’s 20th-anniversary celebration. It depicts the grand tale of Soul Calibur and Soul Edge, the two evil and good swords that the entire series revolves around. Its intended to be an origin story for the series and takes place from the year 1583 to 1590 and takes the form of a mixture of 2D animations, 3D cutscenes and battles to tell its tale.

Interestingly, some battles come with narration to increase the drama and give it a more film-like feeling and, as in Libra of Soul mode, some battles come with restrictions to adhere to.

Libra of Soul

In Libra of Soul, players create their own custom characters using the in-game character creator – an evolution of what was first introduced to the series in SoulCalibur 4 – and set out into the world to stop a new evil from gathering Soul Edge shards.

In a trailer released at Gamescom 2018, glimpses of Libra of Soul suggested Weapon Master Mode-style movement across a map dotted with destinations. As you move between points you’ll encounter characters from the main storyline alongside other custom creations from the community and will square off in battles that have their own unique rules to adhere to.

It’s a very similar setup to SoulCalibur‘s Edge Master Mode and SoulCalibur II‘s Weapon Master Mode, which saw players venturing across renaissance Europe battling foes in rule-specific matches.

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SoulCalibur 6 features: What’s new in this SoulCalibur?

Reversal Edge

The series’ 8-Way Run movement system makes a triumphant return and, fans will be pleased to know, combat has generally returned to its roots. However, Okubo has introduced a new Reversal Edge technique into play.

On paper, it sounds a bit like a flashier Guard Impact move, allowing you to either counter or parry your opponent’s attack. Bandai Namco describes it as a way to “land a counterattack while in guard”, while Okubo describes it as the recreation of the “feeling of becoming a swordsman or really epic weapons fighter”. In practice, it works as a mapped move. Tapping the right shoulder button – or R1 – executes it and, if it hits or is parried, it’ll activate the Reversal Edge slowdown.

“There are these certain moments where you’re fighting when the opponent’s sword is coming down at you and everything goes in slow motion,” he explained. “After that, you parry it, dodge it, and go immediately into a counterattack. That’s the feeling we were trying to recreate and it ended up becoming this Reversal Edge mechanic.”

If that wasn’t clear enough, Okubo summarised it as a system that’s designed to be easy to execute even if the opponent is attacking high or low, allowing you to parry and counterattack. The idea behind this sort of countering technique is to enable newcomers to understand the general attack triangle that the series has had for what moves can usurp other moves.

Critical Edge and SoulCharge moves

At the end of its first character reveal trailer, there was a sneaky little tease for a new special move.

Looking distinctly different to the Reversal Edge we’ve seen in the first gameplay trailer, but instead seems akin to the Critical Edge mechanic of past SoulCalibur games. However, the trailer seems to suggest that this is a different mechanic to Critical Edge as it appears to be a move embued by the power of SoulEdge, suggesting we could see a similar move but using the power of SoulCalibur instead.

Having now gone hands-on with SoulCalibur 6, it’s clear this is actually an evolution of the Soul Charge mechanic of yore. Instead of simply powering up your move set, it unlocks new and more powerful moves. Through this, you can activate a devastating Critical Edge attack and various other charged moves.

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SoulCalibur 6 guest character: Geralt of Rivia joins from The Witcher

SoulCalibur 6‘s tie-in character has been revealed to be The Witcher 3‘s Geralt of Rivia and, thankfully, he’s looking like a particularly awesome addition to the series.

He plays just like you’d expect, making use of his various signs, traps and his silver and steel swords. From the reveal trailer, he seems to be just as quick and nimble as you’d expect a witcher to be. However, there’s always a sneaking suspicion that his inclusion is little more than a cash-grab to help boost the sales of SoulCalibur 6.

Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Both SoulCalibur developers, Project Soul, and The Witcher developers, CD Projekt Red, worked tirelessly to bring the partnership to life out of a sheer desire to let people fight, or fight as, Geralt.

“The SoulCalibur series is known for featuring awesome guest characters,” explained Marcin Momot, community coordinator at CD Projekt Red, in an interview with Official Xbox Magazine. “As a fan myself, and someone who’s involved with The Witcher games, I always thought Geralt would be an awesome addition to Soulcalibur’s fighter roster.

“Then Bandai Namco reached out with the idea – we worked together on previous Witcher games – of having Geralt in Soulcalibur VI, which, at the time, wasn’t announced yet. We have a lot of fans of the Soulcalibur series in the studio, myself included – it was a great opportunity for folks on the team to contribute to something they’re passionate about. Most importantly, we thought this is something that The Witcher community would really enjoy.”

SoulCalibur 6 character roster: Who’s playable in this SoulCalibur?

SoulCalibur 6 is set between the events of SoulCalibur and SoulCalibur II, giving us a reasonably solid insight into who we can expect to see lining up as part of this entry’s character roster. However, as this is also a bid for nostalgia, it looks as if Bandai Namco has tapped into the wider SoulCalibur universe to drag out some familiar faces alongside a few new ones.

The current roster is looking rather meaty, with all fan-favourites returning for another run.

SoulCalibur 6 confirmed characters

• Astaroth
• Geralt of Rivia
• Grøh
• Ivy
• Kilik
• Maxi
• Mitsurugi
• Nightmare
• Seong Mi-na
• Siegfried
• Sophitia
• Taki
• Talim
• Tira (DLC or Season Pass)
• Voldo
• Xianghua
• Yoshimitsu
• Zasalamel

There are a few missing names in the list, such as no Lizardman, Cassandra or Yungsung, but it’s likely Bandai Namco will keep adding more names and faces via DLC.

If you want to see these characters in action, here’s each of the character announcement videos for you to enjoy.

Mitsurugi & Sophitia

Grøh, Nightmare, Xianghua & Kilik

Ivy

Zasalamel

Geralt of Rivia

Siegfried

Taki

Voldo

Astaroth & Seong Mi-na

Tira